For Juicy J, coming to Philadelphia, 'The Hustle Continues'

Juicy J has been priming the pump for his next album, “Pure THC: The Hustle Continues,” for two ye

Juicy J has been priming the pump for his next album, "Pure THC: The Hustle Continues," for two years now, after letting the original target date for release of September 2014 come and go.

He's not being lazy about finishing the album. Juicy J says in a phone interview that he's worked harder on this album than any of his previous releases. And as far as the man whose birth certificate carries the name Jordan Michael Houston is concerned, the album could come out pretty much at any point.

"I always say it's done. But I also could go back into the studio and record like eight or nine new songs," Juicy J says. "I'll take my time with it. I just dropped a new single, 'For Everybody,' so we're going for adds on that [now]. But the album is pretty much done. I may still record here and there, but we're just trying to get the momentum up [with] 'For Everybody.'"

That song, which features guest appearances by Wiz Khalifa and R. City, is the latest in a series of singles Juicy J has released since winding up his tour for his 2012 album, "Stay Trippy."

Last August, he released "Low," a banger that featured a guest rap from Nicki Minaj, plus vocals features from Young Thug and Lil Bibby. That was followed in short order by "Ice" (with guest appearances from Future and ASAP Ferg).

But those songs didn't blow up on the singles chart, and it seems that Juicy J is waiting for a single to spark on radio before releasing the full album.

In addition to the singles, Juicy J is keeping his fans supplied with new music with a mix tape, "Blue Dream & Lean 2."

The 17-track release is a sequel to his 2011 mix tape, "Blue Dream & Lean" and features a song, "All I Need (One More Drank)," released as a single.

The mix tape makes a couple of mentions of the impending arrival of "Pure THC: The Hustle Continues," which Juicy J says was one of the functions of "Blue Dream & Lean 2."

"I'm just doing it, putting a mix tape out, giving people a little appetizer, getting them excited for the album," he says. "I think that's important sometimes. These days, consumers aren't interested, they want to hear something first before they'll be like, 'OK, I like this mix tape. I'll get the album.' I'm like that, too. Sometimes with artists, I want to hear a few things before I buy the whole album."

Juicy J hopes "Blue Dream & Lean 2" will help sustain the momentum he built with "Stay Trippy," an album that returned him to the front ranks of the hip-hop scene after a few down years.

He first came on the scene a decade and a half ago as a member of the Memphis-based rap group Three 6 Mafia, which created a gritty style of hip-hop the group called "crunk."

The group scored a first breakthrough with the million-selling 2000 album, "When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1" and reached its peak with its eighth album, 2005's "Most Known Unknown." The million-selling album cracked the Top 5 on the albums chart, while a song originally written for the film "Hustle & Flow" made history.

That track, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, becoming the second hip-hop song to receive that honor (after Eminem's "Lose Yourself," from the film "8 Mile").

But following that achievement, Three 6 Mafia started to pull apart, and Juicy went solo in 2009. For several years, it looked like his time in the spotlight might have been fading. He did some collaborations with Khalifa and self-released a string of mix tapes and singles, but nothing really took and his career seemed stuck.

That changed when he released the original version of "Bandz A Make Her Dance" on Twitter in 2012, a track he recorded in an apartment in Washington, D.C., on a $100 microphone.

The song immediately took off on the web and in clubs (especially strip clubs), and a month later, a new version of "Bandz A Make Her Dance" was recorded with guest spots from Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz. That version led to a deal with Kemosabe/Columbia Records and the release of the "Stay Trippy" album, with "Bandz A Make Her Dance" as the lead single, followed by another hit, "Bounce It."

Juicy J then topped off his comeback with a guest rap on Katy Perry's song "Dark Horse." That tune became a chart-topping pop hit and Juicy J joined Perry at the 2014 Grammy ceremony to perform "Dark Horse" for a worldwide audience of millions. It was later nominated for a Grammy for best pop duo/group performance, but lost the 2015 Grammy to "Say Something" by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera.

Juicy J clearly isn't satisfied with his accomplishments so far. He says his longer-range dream is to become president of a large record label, following in the footsteps of artists such as Russell Simmons and L.A. Reid who have made it big on the business side of music.

In fact, a main theme of "Pure THC: "The Hustle Continues" revolves around Juicy J ascending to a music business CEO level and showing how to succeed in the business while also enjoying the fringe benefits of being a hip-hop star — in other words, partying, relaxing and having the company of the fairer sex.

"It's very personal," Juicy J said of "Pure THC: "The Hustle Continues." "It talks about where I came from and where I am now, how long it took me to get where I am. It's a lot of different things, I'm talking about a lot of things. I'm talking about what me and Three 6 Mafia went through when we were just out in the streets hustling, trying to get on. So it's a very personal album. I've definitely got some kicking stuff in there, too, because my life is a party. But it's still a business, too, at the same time. I kick it when I kick it, but I definitely take care of business. I make sure everything is tight, my finances are tight, my family is tight, my friends are perfect."

While he waits for the right time to release the new album, Juicy J is heading out on tour, playing a set that will include material from "Stay Trippy," "Blue Dream & Lean 2" and maybe a song or two from "Pure THC: The Hustle Continues."

One thing that will be very different from earlier tours will be how the music is presented.

"There will be a live band with me this time," Juicy J says. "It's my first tour doing that. I've worked with a live band before, but I've never done a whole tour [with one].

"I feel like with a live band it gives people more of a visual and it definitely gives it more of a bigger sound," he says. "Like you hear it on a record, when it went through a computer or whatever, and it sounds one way with a DJ. But when you get that live sound and a DJ, it's like wow, it's a rock and roll show."